Build your Cheese
In the field of cybersecurity, there is the notion that multiple layers of security is best practice, much like having multiple walls protecting the inner most chambers of a fortress or castle.
Each individual layer of security will have vulnerabilities or “holes” like a slice of Swiss cheese. However, if you were to stack enough slices of Swiss cheese on top of each other, the overlapping slices would cover up the holes of the others, and you would end up with a virtually solid block of cheese.
Spirituality is no different. Oftentimes, we find ourselves looking for that one religion, or one spiritual tradition, or one ANSWER to all of our questions. But the problem is that these things are human made.
Whether by divine inspiration or not, these concepts pass through the filter of humanity. By their very nature of existing, they are imperfect. Many of us who are natural seekers, will never be satisfied with one answer, nor should we be.
This dissatisfaction usually emerges when one begins to see the holes in whatever source religion they were raised on. I was raised Catholic, for example, and as a young man I doubted Catholicism and religion altogether because I could not reconcile a God who sent its beloved creations to Hell.
This doubt sent me towards atheism, which took a more nihilistic turn when I found existential writers and a bottle of booze. What I wish I had known, was that the holes in the cheese do not ruin the cheese. In fact, they are essential to the very nature of it, as they mirror the imperfections of the spiritual lens through which we attempt to interpret our own existence.
Looking through a broken glass, you see a broken world. This is how we are trapped by Ego. And while existentialism gave me the foothold in the void that helped me wrestle with the predicament of modern day living, I was still missing something. The cheese had holes.
Through reading about Buddhism, I found tools in how to let go and alleviate suffering, which helped me quit drinking.
Through Taoism, I found presence in the unthinkable nature of God that is just simply here.
Through Gnosticism, I found a way to reconnect with the Scripture I was raised on.
Through mysticism, I found a way to build a new relationship between myself and the universe.
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Before this becomes too auto-biographical, the point I am making is this: any individual religious tradition, spiritual path, or author will almost certainly not provide the full picture in a way that can satisfy every curiosity and question we have. Because the answer to these questions is not the point at all.
The journey is truly all that matters. And as we “build our cheese” we begin to weave together the pieces of a tapestry that form everything we have ever been looking for. The “big picture” starts to emerge, and we realize it is not a picture at all, it is a mirror.
“You don’t look out there for God, something in the sky; you look in you.” - Alan Watts
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Journaling prompt: What slices make up your “cheese”? What holes are there, how do they interplay with one another, and what might you want to learn about next?